The CASA-paradigm, Computers Are Social Actors, was introduced in the book "TheMedia Equation" by Reeves and Nass. One of their experiments concluded that we tend to be polite to computers in the same way as we are to people. In this study I have replicated Reeves and Nass experiment but instead of a text-based interface I have used a virtual agentin order to find out if we are polite to the agents, or still to the computer. Two experimental setups was conducted. The two setups had a common first part that was carried out on onecomputer with one agent.

This study aims to find coping resources in two different paradigms of pastoral care using coping theory from the psychology of religion. The intention is to find coping resources that are functional coping strategies to help priests and chaplains in their work with pastoral care. The research questions are: What coping resources can be found in the pastoral clinical paradigm and the contextual paradigm? What are the differences and similarities? The method used is template analysis style where the theories form a framework for the material used to analyse in this study. The theories used for this study are religious coping theory and pastoral care theory.

This qualitative research is a contribution to the ongoing debate among marketing researchers regarding if there is a dominant paradigm and viewpoint of marketing and which one is the most appropriate. In this study current views of marketing are identified and then compared against the older Goods-Dominant Logic of Marketing and Vargos? and Luschs? alternative Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing. The trends that have been observed are situated in the framework of Thomas S. Kuhn?s philosophy of science.

In this trial we used QualispermTM as an objective method of measuring stallion semen. Samples of semen were analyzed before and after centrifugation. Motility and concentration were statistically analyzed. During the trial all the objective mesaurments were compared to a subjective method. The advantages of QualispermTM compared to older CASA- systems is it´s ability of measuring a greater amount of spermatozoa while it also grades them into different subpopulations. These subpopulations have different qualities that decides their capacity of fertilization. The results showed that this objective method might be used practically. Although, there are still some disadvantages, such as high costs and the necessarity of accurat training of the handler. If it´s possible to prove further relevant results that also are statistically correct, this could prove the usefulness of QualispermTM as an objective measurment method in the daily work at gestuts and stallion stations, thus giving the staff a reliable instrument in assisting the work for an improved horse breeding in Sweden, improving both in quality and economically..

Forskardebatten kring 1809 års regeringsform har tidigare inte ägnats mycket uppmärksamhet, och då har det varit en snäv fokusering kring forskningen kring regeringsformens ursprung. Uppsatsens syfte var att belysa debatten i ett bredare perspektiv, där såväl debatten kring regeringsformens ursprung som dess följder lyfts fram. Syftet var också att placera forskarna inom historievetenskapliga och statsvetenskapliga paradigm. Utifrån delar av Törnebohms och Odéns byggstenar analyserades avhandlingar och artiklar för att kunna placera forskarna inom de olika paradigmen. Undersökningens källmaterial utgjordes av åtta forskares avhandlingar, och i vissa fall artiklar.

This paper aims to explore the reception in Sweden of the work and ideas of neuroscientist Antonio R Damasio, expressed in his four published books. The material used is mainly articled and reviews published in Sweden between 1995 and 2011 regarding Damasio?s books. To analyze the reception, paradigm theories by Kuhn, and Bourdieu?s ideas regarding field, habitus and capital has been used.

This EEF-project is a part of a larger project at SLU, Division of Reproduction, Dept of Clinical Science, with the intention of developing and evaluating new methods for the assessment of stallion semen quality. Over the last 10 years there has been an increase in the use of artificial insemination with cooled semen in Swedish horse breeding. At the same time, foaling rates have decreased. This has lead to a need for new and better methods of assessing the quality of stallion semen. This EEF-project was based on an objective method to calculate motility, with QualispermTM, in fresh and cooled stallion semen, and after selection. Today sperm motility evaluation is mainly done subjectively by visual assessment with a light microscope, and the correlation between these motility results and fertility have varied.

This paper aims to explore the reception in Sweden of the work and ideas of neuroscientist Antonio R Damasio, expressed in his four published books. The material used is mainly articled and reviews published in Sweden between 1995 and 2011 regarding Damasio?s books. To analyze the reception, paradigm theories by Kuhn, and Bourdieu?s ideas regarding field, habitus and capital has been used.

The Aquatic Ape theory was first formulated by Alister Hardy in year 1960. All from the beginning the theory has been criticized, ridiculed, ignored and a source to strong feelings in the anthropological community. The purpose of this essay is to investigate why the Aquatic Ape theory is so controversial and why it is understood so differently by scientists. After interviews with Swedish scientists and the general community, and after reading of anthropological books, I have tried to show that the aquatic ape-coldness depends on it challenging nature against the anthropological paradigm, which describes human beings as strong, hunting creatures who can live in any environment. The Aquatic Ape theory - on the other hand - picks out one of all these environments and says: "here has our evolution occurred: we have been aquatic apes".

Adopting a socio-cultural approach to the study of cold war historiography, this master?s degree essay is a comparative study of the two main disciplinary fields of cold war scholarship, diplomatic history and international relations theory (IR). The study applies the theory of scientific development formulated by Thomas Kuhn and the concept of paradigm on the field of cold war research.Diplomatic history and IR shows many similarities in their development, and in the importance different schools has had in scholarly debate. These different schools are analysed as paradigms, a concept that has been more willingly adopted within IR than in diplomatic history. The transition from what historian John Lewis Gaddis has termed Old Cold War History to New Cold War History is discussed in terms of paradigms and paradigm shift.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the success of theconcept of empowerment in the field of social science can be explained by referring to it as the new paradigm replacing the former paternalistic era. Therefore, I investigate if the character of its history, domicile and practice has the same distinguishing features as the scientific progress. The analysis is based on Thomas Kuhn's definition of a scientific paradigm through the concepts of consensus, crisis and revolution. I also look for alternative ways to explain the sudden appearance of empowerment at the world agenda. Due to the lack of a uniform definition of the concept and the absence of common approaches in the stimulation of empowerment it's difficult to argue that the situation is marked by consensus.

In metropolitan areas where the exploitation pressure increases, also the importance to point out nature areas grows, both for the sake of outdoor life and for biodiversity conservation. Since nature conservancy and spatial planning constitute two different parts of the municipalities land use control, a case study has been carried out in two municipalities in the Stockholm region, Huddinge and Järfälla. Both these municipalities have protected about one third of their land and today there are plans to repeal parts of the reserves to enable exploitation. This thesis shows ? from the theoretical concept of sustainable development ? officials, politicians and non-governmental organizations perspectives on questions concerning land use together with the work with nature reserves and repeals.

Generations of war. William S. Lind and Thomas X. Hammes are two advocates of fourth generation warfare. Fourth generation warfare combatants uses all available tools to reach their goals.

Uppsatsen behandlar payoffbegreppets användning vid privatekonomiska beslut. Författaren visar att privatekonomi och företagsekonomi, två oförenliga paradigm, begreppsmässigt förväxlas och blandas samman i energibranschen Företagsekonomiska abstraktioner utan konkreta motsvarigheter i privatekonomisk praxis skapar osäkerhet, förvirring och tvekan. De aktörer och kunder som undviker paradigmatisk sammanblandning och fokuserar privatekonomiska begrepp går oberörda förbi de svårigheter som annars väntar. Nyckelord: Lönsamhet, payoff, abstraktioner, mentala konstruktioner, privatekonomiska begrepp, företagsekonomiska begrepp, fenomenografi, argumentationsanalys, paradigm..

This master thesis summarizes contemporary theories on secularization processes in the Western world, and compares these with the example of Sweden, which by many scholars is considered to be the most secularized country in the Western world.I do this by dividing the most influential theorists in five different groups. In each group I explain how the theorists formulate and motivate their positions. These groups are:1) The secularization paradigm, where secularization always accompanies modernization. (Therorists: Steve Bruce and Peter Berger (in the 1960s)2) The paradigm basically accepted, but revised to depend on existential security, rather than modernisation as such. (Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart)3) Religion returned in the public sphere.